How to Go From 0 to 2000 Subscribers

Three ways to grow from ZERO that you can start doing today

Hi,

I’ve been talking to

Kristina God

in the past few days. And I thought you would find her journey on Substack inspiring.

Kristina started with ZERO subscribers in November 2022 and now has more than 2600 subscribers.

How did she get there? And what can we learn from her journey?

In this email, I’ll talk about three things that helped Kristina get from 0 to 2000 subscribers.

1. Collaboration

Kristina is really good at collaborating with other Substack creators. She frequently publishes ‘shout outs’ to other Substack writers in her posts, and takes the time to comment on other writer’s posts.

The other day, she wrote to me to ask if I would recommend her newsletter and said she had a spare ‘slot’ to recommend mine. That’s collaboration. I have actually been recommending her newsletter for a few months already and have sent her 14 subscriptions. I’m looking forward to getting subscribers from her recommendation once she has set it up.

My free newsletter has generated 14 subscriptions for Kristina’s newsletter, completely on autopilot, through Substack’s recommendations feature

Substack has tonnes of built-in tools to make it easy to collaborate. Recommendations are a powerful way to ‘share the love’ with other Substack publications; sending them more subscribers, and hopefully getting some in return.

‘Mentions’ are another way to collaborate. Substack mentions work like Facebook tagging. I used Substack’s ‘mention’ feature to let Kristina know I was writing about her.

How to do this yourself

To tag another writer using ‘mentions’, type ‘@’ and then start typing out the writer’s name or publication name. A list of possible matches will appear for you to select.

Substack’s ‘mentions’ feature is another easy way to collaborate

To check out who is recommending your newsletter on Substack click on the Recommendations tab in your publication dashboard.

To recommend a publication, click the pale-coloured ‘Manage’ button at the top of the Recommendations tab in your publication dashboard.

2. Value

Kristina switched her publication’s description to one that contains a ‘value proposition’. Her description began as “Medium, blogging and writing” but she changed it to:

“A weekly advice column about starting your online business (part-time), writing, earning money, promoting content, driving growth, and accelerating your success.”

The new description shows readers exactly what they will get when they subscribe to her newsletter. Descriptions appear on the welcome page of a publication for new readers.

You can see your publication’s welcome page by opening your Substack’s website in an incognito window. (Your website address is https://publication-name.substack.com)

With her new description, Kristina has promised value to her readers. This works two ways:

(1) readers can see exactly what they will get if they subscribe, and how it will benefit them;

(2) Kristina knows exactly what topics to focus on to provide value to her readers, and she knows how often she needs to send an email.

How to do this yourself

Jump into your publication settings and take a look at your publication’s ‘Short description.’ Does it show readers why they might want to subscribe to your publication?

If not, update it to promote the value of your publication.

Inspiration! Below are some tag lines I collected from Substack last year while researching my Substack handbook:

• “Anxious? SAME. This bimonthly newsletter wields anxiety as a lens into the pop culture zeitgeist, current events, and everyday life.” (Nervous Wreckage)

• “Funky, fresh takes on science, philosophy, and culture from a low-brow scholar.” (Theory Gang)

• "Weekly analysis of US-China policy and translations of Chinese-language sources on tech, politics and the broader economy" (Sinocism)

• “Discover the UK's most interesting pre-seed startups.”

• “A Silicon Valley veteran shares unconventional strategies to help you intentionally build a career that gives you the life you want” (Invincible Career)

As well as updating your short description, make sure you concentrate on giving your readers value.

What does ‘value’ look like?

For a ‘self-improvement’ newsletter, like Kristina’s, and this one, the value you provide readers should be in the form of tangible, actionable advice and inspiration.

For an informational newsletter, like Noahpinion, or my paid newsletter, the value you provide is making people feel smarter and keeping them informed so they can do their jobs better.

For an entertainment newsletter, like The Rubesletter or

Birdwings and Brushstrokes

, the value is in making your readers feel an emotion (joy, laughter, validation, nostalgia), or enjoy a short escape from their daily grind.

Consistency breeds trust with readers. Image: Photo by David Emrich on Unsplash

3. Consistency

Consistent posting helps you build relationships with your subscribers and it is absolutely vital to success on Substack. Your readers won’t get to know you if you don’t show up in a predictable way in their inboxes.

If you don’t regularly show up in your subscribers’ inboxes, it’s much harder to build a relationship with them. No relationship = no growth.

If you don’t show up often enough, then when you do eventually send an email, half of your subscribers will be thinking “What now, who is this?” The result: lower open rates and fewer shares. Fewer shares = slower growth.

How to do this yourself

Choose a publishing schedule and stick to it.

If you are not sure how often to publish: daily, weekly, or monthly, choose a lower frequency (fewer emails). This will help you avoid overwhelm and burn-out while you are finding your writing rhythm and learning the platform. You can always increase the frequency later if you wish.

What does consistent posting look like?

Consistent posting means emailing your subscribers at a set frequency and (ideally) at the same time of the day and week.

People like regularity and dislike the unexpected, so… (it’s not rocket science) give them what they like.

Readers who incorporate your emails into their weekly habits are gold. Become part of someone’s week and they will be more likely to pay for the experience when you invite them to. That means showing up when they expect you to, at the same time each week.

Consistent posting creates habits in your readers’ routines. Sunday morning essays with coffee? Yes, please!

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So there you have it: three things Katrina is doing to grow her newsletter. For more strategies she uses to grow, like posting to socials and choosing the look and feel of her publication, check out her youtube video.

I hope you found this helpful. The key takeaway is that you can start from zero and grow by focussing on a few basic actions.

What are you doing to grow your newsletter? Let me know in the comments.

And have a great weekend.

Karen